Some 20 Bernama TV (BTV) staff have opted to take emergency leave as they can no longer afford to go to work.

Many have not turned up at the office since Monday as the last time they were paid was on Oct 20 - seven weeks ago.

"I only have money to support my wife and child, and for necessities. I have no (cash) to travel to work," one staff told Malaysiakini on the condition of anonymity

Those affected include journalists, assistant producers, and studio crew.

Sources said that no exact date has been given as to when the salaries would be paid.

"First they promised us this week, then we hear that it is next week," lamented one of them.

Contacted later, Bernama editor-in-chief Zulkefli Salleh ( right ) conceded there was a delay, but said that salaries would be paid soon.

"We have given an advance, and the full salaries should be in by next week," he told Malaysiakini .

Further checks with sources in BTV however revealed that not everyone had received the advance payment.

This means that the earliest that the pay cheques would come in is on Dec 8, which is a possible breach of labour laws.

Under Section 19(1) of the Employment Act 1955, employers must pay employees "not later than the seventh day after the last day of any wage period".

The Act defines a wage period as a duration of not more than one month.

However, under the same legislation, an employer may ask the director-general of the Labour department, to "extend the time of payment by such number of days" that the director-general sees fit.

By next Monday, it would have been 49 days since BTV staff were last paid.

Close to 180 people work for BTV, most of whom are signed under the private entity Bernama TV Synergy Sdn Bhd, which owns the station.

Only 25 of them are civil servants tied to news agency Bernama, and only they have received their salaries.

Bernama only owns a 33 percent stake in BTV, but has been running the operations since 2011.

This is purportedly not the first time that BTV has been unable to pay its staff on time. Staff claimed that salaries were also late in July, August and September.

In October, Multimedia and Communications Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek ( right ) said he would try to resolve the matter by year end.

He blamed private shareholders and lack of advertising due to low viewership for the station's payment woes.

In order to turn things around, the ministers plans to make it an English only channel next year.

His deputy Jailani Johari announced in Parliament last month that the government would inject RM20 million into the station for technical upgrades.